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♪ inspirational music ♪
One of our most anticipated
traditions takes place just
once a year.
On a Sunday morning, four years
from now it will be your
turn...
Thousands of graduates
walk down the Hill each year.
Recent Jayhawk graduates have
included musicians who
performed in Carnegie Hall,
architecture students who
designed and built sustainable
buildings, six competitors in
the National Debate Tournament,
and Rhodes, Truman, and
Goldwater scholars.
These students continued a
tradition that is now your turn
to uphold.
This tradition of excellence
dates back to the university's
earliest years.
1873 was a momentous year at
KU, seeing the first graduating
class led by
Flora Richardson,
KU's first female
graduate and the class
valedictorian.
A few years later, another
student, Lewis Lindsay Dyche,
graduated and became a
professor and naturalist.
He created a display of animals
for the 1893 Chicago World's
Fair that wowed audiences then
- and now.
You can still see it in Dyche
Hall, home of KU's Biodiversity
Institute.
It's the largest such institute
in the nation, and researchers
- including students - are
studying everything from
Tyrannosaurus rex to how
climate change is affecting
plants and animals today.
KU's first Rhodes Scholar was
selected in 1904, only a year
after the scholarship was
established.
26 KU students have
earned this prestigious award,
more than all other
universities in the state
combined.
In 1930, a 24-year-old amateur
astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh
discovered Pluto.
He studied at KU before going
on to a long and distinguished
scientific career.
All three astronauts from the
state of Kansas are KU
graduates, including Steve
Hawley, who now teaches in the
department of physics and
astronomy.
In 1959, researcher ***
Schiefelbusch received
worldwide attention when his
research showed that children
with severe intellectual
disabilities could learn - an
idea almost unheard of at the
time.
Today, research continues in
the Schiefelbusch Life Span
Institute - one of the many KU
centers dedicated to the
education, health, and
well-being of all children.
Professor Takeru Higuchi
invented the time-release
capsules used in many of the
medicines you'll find at the
pharmacy.
Today, professors like Val
Stella are continuing that
tradition by inventing drugs to
treat conditions from epilepsy
to cancer.
Discoveries and honors.
Awards and championships.
This university has celebrated
them all - each a part of KU's
tradition of excellence, but
none more cherished than...
the KU degree.
Now, it's your turn to excel.
Welcome to the tradition.
Welcome to the University of
Kansas!